The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
